SURI-ISO? Or Soviet intelligence in the Korean War
Scout Albert Gordeyev served in Korea, participated in operations against samurai and received a medal from the hands of Kim Il Sung.
However, this is not what he considers the main thing in his biography. When our conversation ended, he added: “And be sure to write - 45 has worked for years at the Mechanical Plant!” Older people will understand the pride that sounded in Albert Nikolayevich’s voice, but we, the young, are much more interested in what happened before ...
ALBERT, THE SAME ALFIN
He got the name so unusual for the Mordovian hinterland (and Albert Nikolayevich was born in the village of Pyatina of the Romodanovsky district) thanks to his father and amateur performances. Nikolai Gordeyev played in the drama club at the village club, and he got the role of a fiery revolutionary. Italian In the final of the play, he naturally died at the hands of the bloody bourgeoisie, finally shouting a curse at the oppressors of the working people. And they called him either Albert or Alberto. Gordeyev Sr. was so imbued with the heroism of his role that he even decided to name his son, who was soon born, in the name of this hero. And called.
Well, the revolution was a revolution, and in due time they carried the baby to the church. Baptize, according to custom. Hearing the name of the newborn, the rural father lifted his gray eyebrows and began to leaf through the calendar. Naturally, he did not find a single St. Albert there, but Nikolai Gordeyev stood his ground: “I want him to be Albert, and that's that!” Found a compromise: Gordeev Jr. received the name Alfin at his baptism.
Slightly running ahead, we say that Albert Nikolayevich did not deliver the particular inconvenience to the choice of a parent in life. The friends simply called Alik, and when it came time to be called by the patronymic, everyone already had time to get used to foreign names.
VOLUNTEER. PULSET COURSES
In August, 1943, Alik turned 17 years, and in September, he received a subpoena from the recruiting office. At that time he was working at the penzavod and had armor from the front, but he asked to remove it. The father, at his request, went to the commissar himself. And the reason was the simplest.
Alik was never an exemplary child. In childhood, neighbors gardens were storming with friends, and when he moved to Saransk, it was time for more loud affairs to study in “handicrafts”. About the antics of punks from the RU-2 then the whole city spoke. What can I say, for whom of us there were no sins in 16 years. Now, the Gordeevs at the family council decided that it would be better for their son to volunteer to the front than sooner or later get to bad places.
Reservations were removed, and Alik was sent to machine-gunners' courses at the military enlistment office. About them it is worth mentioning this page. stories military Saransk virtually unexplored. The cadets lived in the barracks (now it is the territory of the Oktyabrsky military registration and enlistment office), they did not give out their uniforms, were allowed to go home for the weekend, leap up.
For two months, hundreds of recruits from all districts of Mordovia studied the statutes and hardware of the “Maxim machine gun.” A couple of times a week went to live firing. Alik was constantly lucky, he got to carry the "body" of the machine gun. It just 8 kilo weighs, and the machine - two pounds. And to go far: the landfill was in a ravine, in the area of the current Forest Park. It seems that even before the war a short section of the narrow-gauge railway was laid there. On the rails trolley with attached growth target, to the firing line meters 150.
Each cadet was given 25 live ammunition, which should be filled with cloth tape. Then the instructor-captain from the shelter pulled the rope tied to the trolley and gave the order to open fire. The machine gun is fixed on a heavy machine, but the dispersion is still decent, especially over a moving target. If seven bullets hit the figure, then he shot out on the “good” mark.
Two months later, the cadets were loaded into two freight cars and sent to Ruzayevka, to a collection point. They waited there for a week until the train was completed, and again on the road. Where? Accompanying officers are silent. When we got to Kuibyshev, we realized that we were not yet at the front. We drove for a long time, more than a month. We got to the Primorsky Territory, where the headquarters of the 40 Infantry Division was located in the village of Smolyaninovo.
REDUCTION. FULLOUT
The fact that the soldiers from the rear parts were constantly asking for the front was written in hundreds of books. In Soviet times, this was explained by a patriotic impulse, although in reality the situation was much more prosaic. Worse than death from a bullet was a constant hunger. In the units that stood in the Far East, the soldiers received good American white bread, but in the cauldrons there was not the slightest sign of fat or any other decoction. I swallowed hot vodichki called "soup-meal", and the whole dinner. It is, of course, understandable: everything for the front, everything for victory. But there is something you still want to cut in the stomach.
A strange thing: learning the courses of machine-gunners was not taken into account at all in the course of distribution in parts. After the course, the young fighter Gordeyev was appointed as an orderly to the commander of the training company. As the Good Soldier Švejk explained in his time: “An orderly is who runs errands.” Here is Alik and got ...
20 March 1944, an orderly Gordeyev received an order to collect from the company commander all the separated commanders. With statutory zeal, he rushed to carry out the order, flew out of the door like a bullet and crashed into some unknown person. Kerosene, as well as food, was not enough catastrophically, it was dark in the corridor, but Gordeyev unmistakably identified the firm shoulder straps and his cap — the officer.
- Where so hurry, comrade cadet?
“To fulfill the order of the company commander,” Alik cheerfully replied, thinking to himself: “Guardhouse ...”.
- Your last name.
“Cadet Gordeyev,” our hero replied less bravely, mentally adding: “... three days, no less.”
- Continue to carry out the order.
Alik notified all those separated, returned to report on the implementation, went into the company’s room and was stunned. The stranger whom he shot down was not only a major, but also the chief of intelligence of the 40 division. “Well, this one may be slapped for five days,” thought Gordeev, and suddenly he heard:
- Do you want to serve in intelligence, comrade cadet?
- Want.
So Alik got into the 5-th separate motor-exploration group.
Korean Chan-Yk-Khak in his youth lived in Vladivostok, knew Russian well and was an interpreter with our soldiers.
Here began the real combat training. Three times with a parachute, it was possible to jump, first from 100 meters, then from 500 and from 250. I didn’t even get frightened when two sergeants grabbed him by the arms and simply threw him out of the plane. With the rest, too, did not stand on ceremony. You want, you do not want ... Go !!! The carabiner on the wire, even for the ring tugging is not necessary. According to rumors, several people were killed to death, but Alik himself did not see the corpses.
Practically no hand-to-hand combat was taught: for the destruction of an enemy, each scout has a PCA, a TT pistol and, in extreme cases, a Finn. But in order to take the “language” alive, here it is necessary to know the methods of struggle. That worked out throws, grabs and painful techniques to eighth sweat and sprains.
And how many kilometers through the taiga had to go and run, catching up with an imaginary "enemy" - no one thought. Full display - not less than 32 kilograms. Well, needless to say, an automatic rifle, a pistol, two spare shops for them, six “lemon”, an engineer blade, a flask, a gas mask, and a helmet. The rest - cartridges in bulk in the bag. And in the soldiers themselves, there were barely four pounds left of hunger ...
Nobody asked the question of why all this is needed (the war is coming to an end). Every morning on political studies, the soldiers were reminded that “another enemy lurked next to it - Japan,” who was just waiting for the moment to attack.
"OFFICER". LIES AND WAIT WHEN TURNING
And the Red Army attacked first. In early May, the entire 40 division was alarmed and led to the Manchurian border. A day passed through the taiga kilometers 30. From time to time, we camped for two or three weeks, then again to march. 5 came to the border on August, and the next day, the company commander set the task for the scouts: on the night from 7 to 8, cross the border and cut out the Japanese border line without noise.
The border is three rows of barbed wire, with an inconspicuous obstacle made of thin steel wire between them. If you get confused, you won't get out yourself, and even cut everything into your blood. However, to test all these charms intelligence, fortunately it was not possible. The “window” for them was prepared in advance by the border guards. Gone, bending down, as if along a corridor. Five kilometer walked through the taiga, not having met a single living soul, so they could not carry out the order "cut ...".
After the next operation. The scouts are a privileged people: they went in what they wanted. Albert Gordeyev is second left
But they got another task: to walk a few more kilometers and take the hill "Officer" by storm. And this is a strong nutlet: three reinforced concrete pillboxes, about twenty bunkers, and in each - a machine gun. And around the barbed wire in several rows, on iron pillars.
The assault began on August 9, at about three in the morning (the sappers had cut through the obstacles in advance). They attacked in a belligerent manner. Almost an hour was crawling ... There were only 50 meters left before the bunkers when the Japanese opened heavy fire from all machine guns on the scouts. Undressed soldiers buried their heads in the ground, waiting for their bullets. Alik was no exception. A little later, it turned out that this was not the worst. Worst of all - Japanese grenades. Before they explode, they hiss. And it is not clear - whether near, or about five meters. Lie down and wait for jerk.
The company commander, Senior Lieutenant Belyatko, decided to take it with a bang. He stood up to his full height, managed only to shout: “Guys, go ahead !!!” and immediately got a bullet in the head. Seeing such a thing, Sergeant Lysov gave the command to retreat.
They crawled into the hollow between the hills, leaving ten or twelve bodies in front of the bunkers. They did not have time to waddle, the division commander rode up, ordered to take the "Officer" at any price and rushed back. Lysov, wounded in his hand, led the fighters to a new assault. They crawled again, scraping their elbows and knees, again lying under bullets, listening to the hiss of Japanese grenades ...
Sopka managed to capture only the third attempt. "Hurray!" Did not shout, did not rise to the attack. Just crawled to the pillboxes, climbed on them and lowered a dozen of lemon into the ventilation pipe of each. From the ground I heard a dull explosion, smoke from the embrasures. Log bunks also threw grenades.
On the slopes of the hill, thirty dead were left to lie, and after a few months, an order came to award the distinguished. Senior Officer Lysov received the Order of the Red Banner, one sergeant received the Order of the Red Star, and four soldiers, including Alik Gordeyev, received the medal "For Courage".
FORBORD THROUGH THE BORDER. UNDER FIRE "KATYUSH"
Immediately after the last assault on the hill, the platoon in which Gordeyev served served the order to move on, cross the Tumen river and find out which Japanese units were defending the city of the same name — Tumen.
The width of the river is only meters 20, but the current is such that you go knee-deep and knock you down. It's a good thing that the people in the platoon are experienced: the majority are Siberians, men in their forties. They quickly consulted, left for an hour and brought three horses from somewhere in a solid Japanese harness. Then they took a cape, put stones on them, tied them up, loaded them on horses. Then on each konyagu sat on two and in water. In two calls, they crossed over, although even with such a load, horses were carried about twenty meters. So Albert Gordeyev set foot on Korean soil.
On the other side, near some kind of tunnel, like a bomb shelter, they captured some Japanese. He said that there was a whole division in Tumyn. They tapped on the radio to the command, and in response they heard the order: to hide. They just managed to get into that tunnel, when the Katyushas began to work in the city. Here it really became terrible. For three hours they watched fire arrows fly through the sky and howl like a chimney wind, only a thousand times louder and worse.
The Japanese, as you can see, also suffered fear, or outbid them all. In short, Tumen was taken without a fight. When the scouts reached the city, our units were already there. And along the road for a good hundred meters - abandoned by Japanese soldiers weapon and equipment.
SAMURAI DEATH
Catching up on the 40 Division, the scouts on one of the roads saw the craters from the explosions, two burning jeep and several corpses of our soldiers. We decided to go around this place in Gaolian (it's something like corn), about ten meters from the curb they found a dead Japanese. His belly, taut with something white, was cut wide across, a short samurai sword sticking out in the wound. Next to the suicide lay an explosive machine, the wires from which stretched to the road.
Having done his job, a suicide bomber could have easily escaped from possible persecution in the high gaolian, but still preferred the honorable death of a samurai. Fanaticism is a terrible thing.
"MISSING"
On the outskirts of the city of Dunin (it was 19 or 20 of August), the scouts came under shelling. The shell hit the ground next to Gordeev. Fragments passed by, but the blast wave threw it aside with such force that it swept its cheekbone to the hefty cobblestone with all the blunder. Concussion in full, and even jaw dislocated.
In the field hospital Alik's jaw was put in place and left to lie down. But he didn’t have to heal: in a few days the Japanese cut out all the wounded in one of the tents at night. Gordeyev decided not to tempt fate and rushed to catch up with his unit.
Forty years later, when a certificate of injury was needed, Albert Nikolayevich sent a request to the Military Medical Archives. The answer was: “Yes, A.N. Gordeev I entered the BCP about a concussion, but after three days I went missing. ” The “missing” himself at that time was walking towards the city of Kanko. And a week later, the war was over.
Stalin's special forces
The Japanese capitulated, but the war for reconnaissance is not over. Now and then a group of Japanese from among those who did not want to surrender broke into Korean villages. Before that, they didn’t stand on ceremony with the Koreans, and then they began to commit atrocities. They killed, raped, took everything they wanted.
Two or three times a week, the scouts raised the alarm and they went to catch and destroy these aspiring samurai. Every time I felt cold in my soul: it was a shame to die when everything was so quiet and calm around. When our soldiers approached, the Japanese usually occupied all-round defense in some house and prepared to fight to the end. If they, through an interpreter, were offered to surrender, they either refused, or immediately started shooting.
It's good that in 1946, armored personnel carriers entered the company, it was not necessary to go under the bullets. Armored personnel carriers surrounded the house and opened fire with heavy machine guns. And at home, the Koreans have, you know what: in the corners there are four pillars on which the roof rests, between the pillars a reed frame plastered with clay. Windows of thin slats covered with paper, the doors are also the same. In general, after a minute, hundreds of huge holes gaped in the walls.
Then they acted according to a scheme that is familiar to the special forces officers today. We got up on both sides of the door, knocked it out with a kick, immediately threw out the barrels of the machine guns from behind the joint and fanned them for a couple of turns on the whole disk. And in the 71 drive cartridge. Only after that entered. Wary. There were several cases when a Japanese survivor found strength for the last time to pull the trigger of the machine gun (many of them had captured machines — Soviet PCA). He was immediately shot, but the dead Russian guy could not be returned ...
The last time we went to the operation, which is now called the “mop-up operation,” was the year in 48. In three officially peaceful years, seven people died in clashes with the Japanese.
Suri ISO?
And so, in fact, lived well. Fed, especially in comparison with the first year of service, just fine. Every day not only milk, eggs and thick porridge with meat, but also one hundred grams of alcohol were given out. Those who lacked, could eat plenty at any local restaurant for a small part of their salary. And not only to eat ...
Now you smile. I mean men who are not averse to occasionally use a glass or two. More than fifty years have passed, but the memory of Albert Nikolaevich has retained the most necessary words for a soldier in any country. In this case, in Korean. We give them in the form of a standard dialog:
- Suri iso? (Is there vodka?)
- Op sa. (Not)
Or in another way:
- Suri iso?
- Iso. (There is)
- Chokam-chokam. (A little bit)
“Suri”, as you already understood, is Korean vodka. The taste is so-so, and the fortress is rather weak, thirty degrees in all. Koreans pour it into small wooden cups.
From the exotic snack Gordeev tried a lot, just do not remember. Oysters, for example, but they just did not like the guy from Mordovia. Not only are the living ones, they tremble under the fork, and some fresh ones taste like, like an empty brawn (they are supposed to be used with lemon, but who will teach our children in a foreign country - author's note).
MEDAL FROM KIM-SENA
In 1948, the “Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” was issued on awarding the Soviet soldiers with the medal “For the Liberation of Korea”. He was honored and scout Albert Gordeev.
Received awards in Pyongyang, from the hands of the "great helmsman" Kim-Il-Sung. Alik did not experience much trepidation. Korean as Korean, not tall, stocky, in a semi-military jacket. Eyes slanting, face wide. That's all the impressions.
"WATERPROOF"
In 1949, by decree of Stalin began to return home Japanese prisoners. To protect and support them, the 40 Infantry Division was redeployed to the Primorsky Territory.
Ships from Nakhodka sailed when on the island of Kyushu, when in Hokkaido. On deck, the Japanese and our soldiers stood in groups, mixed together. Yesterday's prisoners behaved with restraint, no one sang and danced with joy. It happened to catch thrown unkind glances. And once, Gordeyev saw several Japanese people whispering about something, suddenly ran up to the board and jumped into the sea.
Having not yet managed to forget the suicide bomber, Alik decided that these too decided to commit suicide and rushed to the board along with the others. And he saw a strange picture. The Japanese sailed to escort boats. Having picked them up, the boats turned around and went to the Soviet shores.
Later, one of the officers explained that our government offered Japanese engineers and other qualified specialists to stay in the USSR before leaving. And not just work, but for big money. Some agreed, but the question arose how to carry out this procedure so that international conventions on the rights of prisoners of war would not be violated. After all, if a Japanese man on the Soviet coast says that he voluntarily wants to stay, the Japanese Government may declare that he was forced to do this by force. And stepping on Japanese soil, he automatically falls under the jurisdiction of his country and he may not be allowed to leave. The clever heads at the Foreign Ministry found a solution: in neutral waters, the defector jumps into the sea and returns to the USSR on escort boats, which just have no right to go further.
JAPAN. APPLE IN PAPER
At the port of arrival, our soldiers were allowed to go ashore and wander around the city for a while and look at Japanese life. True, in groups, and accompanied by an interpreter. Weapons, of course, left on the ship.
Walking through the Japanese market for the first time, Alik concluded that the Japanese eat everything that moves. Most of the products on the shelves looked pretty unappetizing, and something completely made the stomach shrink. But he liked the Japanese peaches. Huge, with a fist, ate three or four ate and gorged.
That's what really amazed him was the hard work of the Japanese. Not a single piece of uncultivated land. And with all love they cultivate. In one house, for example, Alik saw a small apple tree. All kind of twisted and no leaf there. Caterpillars that, if gnawed. But the apples hang on the branches tsekhonkhonkie and each, notice - each, neatly wrapped in rice paper.
From one such trip, shortly before demobilization, Gordeyev brought a white kimono to his 7-year-old sister Luce. True, in Saransk, the overseas style was not appreciated, and the mother changed it into a simple dress.
However, this is not what he considers the main thing in his biography. When our conversation ended, he added: “And be sure to write - 45 has worked for years at the Mechanical Plant!” Older people will understand the pride that sounded in Albert Nikolayevich’s voice, but we, the young, are much more interested in what happened before ...
ALBERT, THE SAME ALFIN
He got the name so unusual for the Mordovian hinterland (and Albert Nikolayevich was born in the village of Pyatina of the Romodanovsky district) thanks to his father and amateur performances. Nikolai Gordeyev played in the drama club at the village club, and he got the role of a fiery revolutionary. Italian In the final of the play, he naturally died at the hands of the bloody bourgeoisie, finally shouting a curse at the oppressors of the working people. And they called him either Albert or Alberto. Gordeyev Sr. was so imbued with the heroism of his role that he even decided to name his son, who was soon born, in the name of this hero. And called.
Well, the revolution was a revolution, and in due time they carried the baby to the church. Baptize, according to custom. Hearing the name of the newborn, the rural father lifted his gray eyebrows and began to leaf through the calendar. Naturally, he did not find a single St. Albert there, but Nikolai Gordeyev stood his ground: “I want him to be Albert, and that's that!” Found a compromise: Gordeev Jr. received the name Alfin at his baptism.
Slightly running ahead, we say that Albert Nikolayevich did not deliver the particular inconvenience to the choice of a parent in life. The friends simply called Alik, and when it came time to be called by the patronymic, everyone already had time to get used to foreign names.
VOLUNTEER. PULSET COURSES
In August, 1943, Alik turned 17 years, and in September, he received a subpoena from the recruiting office. At that time he was working at the penzavod and had armor from the front, but he asked to remove it. The father, at his request, went to the commissar himself. And the reason was the simplest.
Alik was never an exemplary child. In childhood, neighbors gardens were storming with friends, and when he moved to Saransk, it was time for more loud affairs to study in “handicrafts”. About the antics of punks from the RU-2 then the whole city spoke. What can I say, for whom of us there were no sins in 16 years. Now, the Gordeevs at the family council decided that it would be better for their son to volunteer to the front than sooner or later get to bad places.
Reservations were removed, and Alik was sent to machine-gunners' courses at the military enlistment office. About them it is worth mentioning this page. stories military Saransk virtually unexplored. The cadets lived in the barracks (now it is the territory of the Oktyabrsky military registration and enlistment office), they did not give out their uniforms, were allowed to go home for the weekend, leap up.
For two months, hundreds of recruits from all districts of Mordovia studied the statutes and hardware of the “Maxim machine gun.” A couple of times a week went to live firing. Alik was constantly lucky, he got to carry the "body" of the machine gun. It just 8 kilo weighs, and the machine - two pounds. And to go far: the landfill was in a ravine, in the area of the current Forest Park. It seems that even before the war a short section of the narrow-gauge railway was laid there. On the rails trolley with attached growth target, to the firing line meters 150.
Each cadet was given 25 live ammunition, which should be filled with cloth tape. Then the instructor-captain from the shelter pulled the rope tied to the trolley and gave the order to open fire. The machine gun is fixed on a heavy machine, but the dispersion is still decent, especially over a moving target. If seven bullets hit the figure, then he shot out on the “good” mark.
Two months later, the cadets were loaded into two freight cars and sent to Ruzayevka, to a collection point. They waited there for a week until the train was completed, and again on the road. Where? Accompanying officers are silent. When we got to Kuibyshev, we realized that we were not yet at the front. We drove for a long time, more than a month. We got to the Primorsky Territory, where the headquarters of the 40 Infantry Division was located in the village of Smolyaninovo.
REDUCTION. FULLOUT
The fact that the soldiers from the rear parts were constantly asking for the front was written in hundreds of books. In Soviet times, this was explained by a patriotic impulse, although in reality the situation was much more prosaic. Worse than death from a bullet was a constant hunger. In the units that stood in the Far East, the soldiers received good American white bread, but in the cauldrons there was not the slightest sign of fat or any other decoction. I swallowed hot vodichki called "soup-meal", and the whole dinner. It is, of course, understandable: everything for the front, everything for victory. But there is something you still want to cut in the stomach.
A strange thing: learning the courses of machine-gunners was not taken into account at all in the course of distribution in parts. After the course, the young fighter Gordeyev was appointed as an orderly to the commander of the training company. As the Good Soldier Švejk explained in his time: “An orderly is who runs errands.” Here is Alik and got ...
20 March 1944, an orderly Gordeyev received an order to collect from the company commander all the separated commanders. With statutory zeal, he rushed to carry out the order, flew out of the door like a bullet and crashed into some unknown person. Kerosene, as well as food, was not enough catastrophically, it was dark in the corridor, but Gordeyev unmistakably identified the firm shoulder straps and his cap — the officer.
- Where so hurry, comrade cadet?
“To fulfill the order of the company commander,” Alik cheerfully replied, thinking to himself: “Guardhouse ...”.
- Your last name.
“Cadet Gordeyev,” our hero replied less bravely, mentally adding: “... three days, no less.”
- Continue to carry out the order.
Alik notified all those separated, returned to report on the implementation, went into the company’s room and was stunned. The stranger whom he shot down was not only a major, but also the chief of intelligence of the 40 division. “Well, this one may be slapped for five days,” thought Gordeev, and suddenly he heard:
- Do you want to serve in intelligence, comrade cadet?
- Want.
So Alik got into the 5-th separate motor-exploration group.
Korean Chan-Yk-Khak in his youth lived in Vladivostok, knew Russian well and was an interpreter with our soldiers.Here began the real combat training. Three times with a parachute, it was possible to jump, first from 100 meters, then from 500 and from 250. I didn’t even get frightened when two sergeants grabbed him by the arms and simply threw him out of the plane. With the rest, too, did not stand on ceremony. You want, you do not want ... Go !!! The carabiner on the wire, even for the ring tugging is not necessary. According to rumors, several people were killed to death, but Alik himself did not see the corpses.
Practically no hand-to-hand combat was taught: for the destruction of an enemy, each scout has a PCA, a TT pistol and, in extreme cases, a Finn. But in order to take the “language” alive, here it is necessary to know the methods of struggle. That worked out throws, grabs and painful techniques to eighth sweat and sprains.
And how many kilometers through the taiga had to go and run, catching up with an imaginary "enemy" - no one thought. Full display - not less than 32 kilograms. Well, needless to say, an automatic rifle, a pistol, two spare shops for them, six “lemon”, an engineer blade, a flask, a gas mask, and a helmet. The rest - cartridges in bulk in the bag. And in the soldiers themselves, there were barely four pounds left of hunger ...
Nobody asked the question of why all this is needed (the war is coming to an end). Every morning on political studies, the soldiers were reminded that “another enemy lurked next to it - Japan,” who was just waiting for the moment to attack.
"OFFICER". LIES AND WAIT WHEN TURNING
And the Red Army attacked first. In early May, the entire 40 division was alarmed and led to the Manchurian border. A day passed through the taiga kilometers 30. From time to time, we camped for two or three weeks, then again to march. 5 came to the border on August, and the next day, the company commander set the task for the scouts: on the night from 7 to 8, cross the border and cut out the Japanese border line without noise.
The border is three rows of barbed wire, with an inconspicuous obstacle made of thin steel wire between them. If you get confused, you won't get out yourself, and even cut everything into your blood. However, to test all these charms intelligence, fortunately it was not possible. The “window” for them was prepared in advance by the border guards. Gone, bending down, as if along a corridor. Five kilometer walked through the taiga, not having met a single living soul, so they could not carry out the order "cut ...".
After the next operation. The scouts are a privileged people: they went in what they wanted. Albert Gordeyev is second left
But they got another task: to walk a few more kilometers and take the hill "Officer" by storm. And this is a strong nutlet: three reinforced concrete pillboxes, about twenty bunkers, and in each - a machine gun. And around the barbed wire in several rows, on iron pillars.The assault began on August 9, at about three in the morning (the sappers had cut through the obstacles in advance). They attacked in a belligerent manner. Almost an hour was crawling ... There were only 50 meters left before the bunkers when the Japanese opened heavy fire from all machine guns on the scouts. Undressed soldiers buried their heads in the ground, waiting for their bullets. Alik was no exception. A little later, it turned out that this was not the worst. Worst of all - Japanese grenades. Before they explode, they hiss. And it is not clear - whether near, or about five meters. Lie down and wait for jerk.
The company commander, Senior Lieutenant Belyatko, decided to take it with a bang. He stood up to his full height, managed only to shout: “Guys, go ahead !!!” and immediately got a bullet in the head. Seeing such a thing, Sergeant Lysov gave the command to retreat.
They crawled into the hollow between the hills, leaving ten or twelve bodies in front of the bunkers. They did not have time to waddle, the division commander rode up, ordered to take the "Officer" at any price and rushed back. Lysov, wounded in his hand, led the fighters to a new assault. They crawled again, scraping their elbows and knees, again lying under bullets, listening to the hiss of Japanese grenades ...
Sopka managed to capture only the third attempt. "Hurray!" Did not shout, did not rise to the attack. Just crawled to the pillboxes, climbed on them and lowered a dozen of lemon into the ventilation pipe of each. From the ground I heard a dull explosion, smoke from the embrasures. Log bunks also threw grenades.
On the slopes of the hill, thirty dead were left to lie, and after a few months, an order came to award the distinguished. Senior Officer Lysov received the Order of the Red Banner, one sergeant received the Order of the Red Star, and four soldiers, including Alik Gordeyev, received the medal "For Courage".
FORBORD THROUGH THE BORDER. UNDER FIRE "KATYUSH"
Immediately after the last assault on the hill, the platoon in which Gordeyev served served the order to move on, cross the Tumen river and find out which Japanese units were defending the city of the same name — Tumen.
The width of the river is only meters 20, but the current is such that you go knee-deep and knock you down. It's a good thing that the people in the platoon are experienced: the majority are Siberians, men in their forties. They quickly consulted, left for an hour and brought three horses from somewhere in a solid Japanese harness. Then they took a cape, put stones on them, tied them up, loaded them on horses. Then on each konyagu sat on two and in water. In two calls, they crossed over, although even with such a load, horses were carried about twenty meters. So Albert Gordeyev set foot on Korean soil.
On the other side, near some kind of tunnel, like a bomb shelter, they captured some Japanese. He said that there was a whole division in Tumyn. They tapped on the radio to the command, and in response they heard the order: to hide. They just managed to get into that tunnel, when the Katyushas began to work in the city. Here it really became terrible. For three hours they watched fire arrows fly through the sky and howl like a chimney wind, only a thousand times louder and worse.
The Japanese, as you can see, also suffered fear, or outbid them all. In short, Tumen was taken without a fight. When the scouts reached the city, our units were already there. And along the road for a good hundred meters - abandoned by Japanese soldiers weapon and equipment.
SAMURAI DEATH
Catching up on the 40 Division, the scouts on one of the roads saw the craters from the explosions, two burning jeep and several corpses of our soldiers. We decided to go around this place in Gaolian (it's something like corn), about ten meters from the curb they found a dead Japanese. His belly, taut with something white, was cut wide across, a short samurai sword sticking out in the wound. Next to the suicide lay an explosive machine, the wires from which stretched to the road.
Having done his job, a suicide bomber could have easily escaped from possible persecution in the high gaolian, but still preferred the honorable death of a samurai. Fanaticism is a terrible thing.
"MISSING"
On the outskirts of the city of Dunin (it was 19 or 20 of August), the scouts came under shelling. The shell hit the ground next to Gordeev. Fragments passed by, but the blast wave threw it aside with such force that it swept its cheekbone to the hefty cobblestone with all the blunder. Concussion in full, and even jaw dislocated.
In the field hospital Alik's jaw was put in place and left to lie down. But he didn’t have to heal: in a few days the Japanese cut out all the wounded in one of the tents at night. Gordeyev decided not to tempt fate and rushed to catch up with his unit.
Forty years later, when a certificate of injury was needed, Albert Nikolayevich sent a request to the Military Medical Archives. The answer was: “Yes, A.N. Gordeev I entered the BCP about a concussion, but after three days I went missing. ” The “missing” himself at that time was walking towards the city of Kanko. And a week later, the war was over.
Stalin's special forces
The Japanese capitulated, but the war for reconnaissance is not over. Now and then a group of Japanese from among those who did not want to surrender broke into Korean villages. Before that, they didn’t stand on ceremony with the Koreans, and then they began to commit atrocities. They killed, raped, took everything they wanted.
Two or three times a week, the scouts raised the alarm and they went to catch and destroy these aspiring samurai. Every time I felt cold in my soul: it was a shame to die when everything was so quiet and calm around. When our soldiers approached, the Japanese usually occupied all-round defense in some house and prepared to fight to the end. If they, through an interpreter, were offered to surrender, they either refused, or immediately started shooting.
It's good that in 1946, armored personnel carriers entered the company, it was not necessary to go under the bullets. Armored personnel carriers surrounded the house and opened fire with heavy machine guns. And at home, the Koreans have, you know what: in the corners there are four pillars on which the roof rests, between the pillars a reed frame plastered with clay. Windows of thin slats covered with paper, the doors are also the same. In general, after a minute, hundreds of huge holes gaped in the walls.
Then they acted according to a scheme that is familiar to the special forces officers today. We got up on both sides of the door, knocked it out with a kick, immediately threw out the barrels of the machine guns from behind the joint and fanned them for a couple of turns on the whole disk. And in the 71 drive cartridge. Only after that entered. Wary. There were several cases when a Japanese survivor found strength for the last time to pull the trigger of the machine gun (many of them had captured machines — Soviet PCA). He was immediately shot, but the dead Russian guy could not be returned ...
The last time we went to the operation, which is now called the “mop-up operation,” was the year in 48. In three officially peaceful years, seven people died in clashes with the Japanese.
Suri ISO?
And so, in fact, lived well. Fed, especially in comparison with the first year of service, just fine. Every day not only milk, eggs and thick porridge with meat, but also one hundred grams of alcohol were given out. Those who lacked, could eat plenty at any local restaurant for a small part of their salary. And not only to eat ...
Now you smile. I mean men who are not averse to occasionally use a glass or two. More than fifty years have passed, but the memory of Albert Nikolaevich has retained the most necessary words for a soldier in any country. In this case, in Korean. We give them in the form of a standard dialog:
- Suri iso? (Is there vodka?)
- Op sa. (Not)
Or in another way:
- Suri iso?
- Iso. (There is)
- Chokam-chokam. (A little bit)
“Suri”, as you already understood, is Korean vodka. The taste is so-so, and the fortress is rather weak, thirty degrees in all. Koreans pour it into small wooden cups.
From the exotic snack Gordeev tried a lot, just do not remember. Oysters, for example, but they just did not like the guy from Mordovia. Not only are the living ones, they tremble under the fork, and some fresh ones taste like, like an empty brawn (they are supposed to be used with lemon, but who will teach our children in a foreign country - author's note).
MEDAL FROM KIM-SENA
In 1948, the “Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” was issued on awarding the Soviet soldiers with the medal “For the Liberation of Korea”. He was honored and scout Albert Gordeev.Received awards in Pyongyang, from the hands of the "great helmsman" Kim-Il-Sung. Alik did not experience much trepidation. Korean as Korean, not tall, stocky, in a semi-military jacket. Eyes slanting, face wide. That's all the impressions.
"WATERPROOF"
In 1949, by decree of Stalin began to return home Japanese prisoners. To protect and support them, the 40 Infantry Division was redeployed to the Primorsky Territory.
Ships from Nakhodka sailed when on the island of Kyushu, when in Hokkaido. On deck, the Japanese and our soldiers stood in groups, mixed together. Yesterday's prisoners behaved with restraint, no one sang and danced with joy. It happened to catch thrown unkind glances. And once, Gordeyev saw several Japanese people whispering about something, suddenly ran up to the board and jumped into the sea.
Having not yet managed to forget the suicide bomber, Alik decided that these too decided to commit suicide and rushed to the board along with the others. And he saw a strange picture. The Japanese sailed to escort boats. Having picked them up, the boats turned around and went to the Soviet shores.
Later, one of the officers explained that our government offered Japanese engineers and other qualified specialists to stay in the USSR before leaving. And not just work, but for big money. Some agreed, but the question arose how to carry out this procedure so that international conventions on the rights of prisoners of war would not be violated. After all, if a Japanese man on the Soviet coast says that he voluntarily wants to stay, the Japanese Government may declare that he was forced to do this by force. And stepping on Japanese soil, he automatically falls under the jurisdiction of his country and he may not be allowed to leave. The clever heads at the Foreign Ministry found a solution: in neutral waters, the defector jumps into the sea and returns to the USSR on escort boats, which just have no right to go further.
JAPAN. APPLE IN PAPER
At the port of arrival, our soldiers were allowed to go ashore and wander around the city for a while and look at Japanese life. True, in groups, and accompanied by an interpreter. Weapons, of course, left on the ship.
Walking through the Japanese market for the first time, Alik concluded that the Japanese eat everything that moves. Most of the products on the shelves looked pretty unappetizing, and something completely made the stomach shrink. But he liked the Japanese peaches. Huge, with a fist, ate three or four ate and gorged.
That's what really amazed him was the hard work of the Japanese. Not a single piece of uncultivated land. And with all love they cultivate. In one house, for example, Alik saw a small apple tree. All kind of twisted and no leaf there. Caterpillars that, if gnawed. But the apples hang on the branches tsekhonkhonkie and each, notice - each, neatly wrapped in rice paper.
From one such trip, shortly before demobilization, Gordeyev brought a white kimono to his 7-year-old sister Luce. True, in Saransk, the overseas style was not appreciated, and the mother changed it into a simple dress.
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